Not thinking about the number one ranking - Sarfraz Ahmed

Pakistan are more focused on winning the tri-nation series rather than taking the pressure of being the number one T20I side. This, after all, is how they have approached cricket since Sarfraz Ahmed took over the reins of the T20I side in 2016. On the eve of the first match of the triangular series between hosts Zimbabwe and Pakistan, Sarfraz revealed that his side has never taken rankings into consideration.

"Definitely ranking is very important, but we are not thinking about it," Sarfraz said. "When I was announced as a captain, we were at number seven. We were not thinking about going to number one and we went up, up, up. Here we are thinking about playing good and positive cricket and to win the tri-nation series.:

Pakistan, under Sarfraz, have won 19 matches and lost only three which takes their win/loss ratio at an awe-inspiring 6.333. They have won their last seven T20Is matches on trot this year. They made a remarkable comeback against New Zealand to win the last two matches of the three-match series in New Zealand. They then defeated West Indies 3-0 during the latter's historic tour of Karachi. And, just this month, they beat Scotland in two T20Is.

When he was asked to reflect on these stats, Sarfraz said: "The T20I team is playing good cricket especially from the last two years. Our combination is very good. We have very good youngsters and senior players. We all are being very good especially in the fielding and batting which is why we are on the right track."

With Australia yet to win a match since the embarrassing ball-tempering incident in Newlands and Zimbabwe stuck in the payment crisis, due to which their key players have refused to participate, Pakistan are the only side that aren't carrying any off-field baggage going into the series.

After Graeme Cremer, who led them during the ICC World Cup Qualifiers earlier this year, pulled himself out, Zimbabwe did not have a captain 48 hours before the first ball of the series, with the announcement of Hamilton Masakadza as captain coming only a day before the game. With Sikandar Raza in Canada for the Global T20 league and Brendan Taylor, Sean Williams and Craig Ervine also missing from the squad, the series has been termed as an affair amongst two-and-a-half teams.

"If you think about T20 cricket, you cannot underestimate any team," the Pakistan captain said. "They are a young team and they have a couple of good players. We are not going to take them lightly and we are going to play at our full strength...The Zimbabwe side is very good with some good players. Hamilton Masakadza is a very senior player. Chamu Chibhabha. Elton Chigumbura is back. The first game of the tour is very important. We will try our best to play our best cricket and win the match as well."

All seven matches of the tri-series to be played at Harare are scheduled to begin at 10:00 am local time, something that surprised Sarfraz, who also reflected on how the conditions have been totally different from his past two tours of the African nation.

"I have come here twice in 2013 and 2015," he said. "In 2013, the pitches were grassy and Pakistan lost a Test match on that tour as well. In 2015 when we came here, the pitches were different. They were slow and had moisture. But, it is a surprise for me that T20I matches are starting too early. But, it is not our domain to decide the starting of the match.

"The conditions are very good and the weather is good. Hopefully, people will watch good cricket. Whenever you play outside the country it is not easy. When we arrived here, we knew the conditions were not easy. Especially the early on [conditions]. The toss will be very important," Sarfraz concluded.